Walnut Gorgonzola Topping for Avocado Toast

Are you ready to elevate simple Avocado Toast to a whole new level?  Last week I received a bag of beautiful California-grown walnuts from the California Farm Water Coalition and Lester Farms in Winters, California to celebrate National Walnut Day on May 17th.

Walnuts are especially delicious when they’re freshly toasted,  so I heated the oven to 350 degrees and put half the bag of walnuts onto a baking sheet in a single layer.  After about 6 minutes in the oven they were toasted and those warm walnuts had a buttery flavor that made me want to just eat them all.

After roughly crushing the toasted walnuts with a large spoon, I measured 3/4 cup of the crushed walnuts into a  bowl. Then I   added 1/2 cup of sliced black olives and 1/2 cup of crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.   I crushed the nuts, cheese, and olives together with the olive oil,  creating a crunchy flavorful  topping for avocado toast!

I set some of the topping aside to use in a vinaigrette salad dressing later.   Toasted Walnut, Gorgonzola, and Olive Vinaigrette: sounds divine!  But let’s get  back to the avocado toast:

Creamy slices of ripe California avocado from our grove, mashed with a fork  on sourdough toast,   transformed by a simple topping into a crunchy explosion of flavor, highlighted by the earthy gorgonzola and the buttery walnuts.

My husband (aka “The Farmer”)  came in for supper after working in the avocado grove all day, so I offered him the first taste. And a glass of red wine.   Let’s just say that we did NOT have a chance to try the new salad dressing I had in mind, because the entire bowl of crunchy goodness was consumed with mashed avocado on crackers as well as the toast.

The next time I need a simple appetizer for a dinner party, this Walnut Gorgonzola Topping   will be on the menu!

Thank you to Lester Farms and the California Farm Water Coalition for sending me the bag of walnuts…and for inspiring this new way to enjoy the avocados in my kitchen!

Note: I received the walnuts at no cost to use in the recipe for this post.  I was not paid to write this post.  All opinions are my own.